Before another group of NBA hopefuls scattered across the country to other pre-draft workouts and to futures that, for most, would not involve playing for the Lakers, they needed to complete one last drill.
The players lingered in the team's practice facility, waiting to fulfill a dream. When each player's moment came, he wrapped an arm around the Lakers Hall of Fame president of basketball operations and smiled.
A photo with Magic Johnson.
"I got a picture," said a beaming Josh Hart, a point guard from Villanova. "I might ask for an autograph. I have to see if that's available. But I got something."
Pre-draft workouts are not only serious for Johnson and general manager Rob Pelinka, but also for the players who are trying to impress them. However, Johnson's presence in his first offseason at the helm of the Lakers means that working out in Los Angeles, a city that draws millions of celebrity-seekers every year, comes with the added thrill of rubbing elbows with a legend.
"It's crazy seeing one of the greatest players of all-time and somebody I was watching since I was a little kid," said Ivan Rabb, a forward from Cal. "He was playing before I was born, but I knew who he was as soon as I started watching basketball."
For the Lakers, it's an early sign that Johnson still holds significant cachet with younger players, something that was widely debated when owner Jeanie Buss said in February that hiring Johnson would help attract high-profile free agents to the Lakers.
Free agency remains to be seen, but draft candidates have been impressed.
"I didn't know he was that big," said Dennis Smith Jr., a point guard from North Carolina State projected to be drafted in the lottery. "You hear a lot about that, but then you see him and think, 'This guy was a point guard.' "
The Lakers are choosing from a small, elite group of college superstars for the No. 2 pick in the June 22 draft — likely UCLA's Lonzo Ball, Kentucky's De'Aaron Fox or Kansas' Josh Jackson — but must consider dozens of possibilities with their late first-round selection (No. 28), a pick Johnson acquired when he traded Lou Williams to Houston on his first day on the job.
As a result, 86 players have cycled through the Lakers facility in recent weeks and many of them — Hart, Utah's Kyle Kuzma, Oklahoma State point guard Jawun Evans to name a few — have shared the grip-and-grin mementos on social media.
A charismatic, generous and wildly marketable businessman and philanthropist in his post-playing days, Johnson has never been especially hard to find. However, he has also never been as accessible as he is now – at least to the world's top young basketball players.
Players working out for the Lakers get an experience they might only otherwise get with the Michael Jordan-owned Charlotte Bobcats or with the Indiana Pacers before Larry Bird stepped down as president last month.
"It's Magic Johnson," said forward Semi Ojeleye, who worked out for the Lakers on June 9 after first meeting Johnson at the NBA's draft combine last month in Chicago. "You're sitting there in awe."
Ojeleye was 2 when Johnson played his last NBA game in 1996, but most top draft prospects were not born when Johnson was still playing. Ball, who participated in a solo workout for the Lakers on June 7, was born in October of 1997.
Johnson and the "Showtime" Lakers still seem to resonate.
"It was a little bit before my time," said Hart, 22, "but the games are always on ESPN Classic. ... You see everything they did for this game, the footprint that they left. To see those (retired) jerseys, to see Magic on the sideline watching, it's kind of surreal at first. But once that ball rolls out you lock in."
If players want to marvel about meeting Johnson, they likely have a photograph commemorating the encounter.
And it isn't just for them to enjoy.
Rabb said when he and five other players worked out on May 30, Johnson told them, "Go ahead and take this picture. I know all your dads and uncles want pictures."
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